Ryan Willock
Addicted to ArboristSite
Has anyone milled white pine to build their own cabin? I've been thinking about milling some white pine to build my own log cabin and have been told that green logs will work just fine. Thoughts, comments?
coveredinsap said:It depends on how long you want the cabin to last. In my experience, untreated pine logs after about 20 years generally have a sufficient amount of bug damage to require extensive renovation.
Lakeside53 said:so... you've built log cabins too?
The question was "Has anyone milled white pine to build their own cabin?". Surely this will depend on the location, coatings, roof and foundation? Not everyone builds with a dirt floor.
Ryan - check out this guys posts all over AS before you put too much stock in what he says.
Lakeside53 said:so... you've built log cabins too?
The question was "Has anyone milled white pine to build their own cabin?". Surely this will depend on the Not everyone builds with a dirt floor.
Ryan - check out this guys posts all over AS before you put too much stock in what he says.
coveredinsap said:Most recently a log cabin restoration in 2001. It was a pine log cabin built in the early 1980's. Pretty extensive bug and dryrot damage on some of the supporting floor beams (the cabin was next to a river so it was up on concrete pilings), and lower wall timbers, and pretty extensive dryrot and bug damage on the south facing walls. I had to jack up the entire side of the cabin using 20-ton bottle jacks, remove the bad supporting floor girders and insert new ones where needed. The bad parts of wall logs had to be cut out and replaced with good logs. Pretty extensive damage, actually....I was surprised...the thing looked 40+ years old.
Yes, of course it varies somewhat by "location, coatings, roof and foundation". That goes without saying....as in "duh".
coveredinsap said:Yes, of course it varies somewhat by "location, coatings, roof and foundation". That goes without saying....as in "duh".
Lakeside53 said:Duh...so quit just saying "will last only 20 years" etc. I can show you cabins that have been up for over 100 years made from Lodgepole and other softwoods that are still in decent shape... and have my initials carved into repairs... and some that have been up 15 that are in trouble. Construction technique is as important as materials, but then again, you know this Mr. Carpenter extraordinarie...
As for "dryrot", there is not such thing (other then the common misuse of the term)... moisture was getting to the timbers some how..
Ryan Willock said:Has anyone milled white pine to build their own cabin? I've been thinking about milling some white pine to build my own log cabin and have been told that green logs will work just fine. Thoughts, comments?
BlueRidgeMark said:Guys, I'm no fan of The Sap, but whacking him for using a universally used term because it's not quite technically correct is pretty lame. We all know what the term means.
Sawyer Rob said:I think what it's "really" about is how well the wood is treated over the years with keeping it dry ect...
Rob
Ryan Willock said:For starters let me say that this mindless offtopic bantering is why myself and others rarely post or check in anymore..... Its gotten to be a wast of time for the most part.
Thanks Rob and Lakeside for actually CONTRIBUTING to the thread! I've built other buildings out of green white pine but I was wondering about the timbers. I know that white pine is a very stable wood and that it has less than 5% shrinkage and that it is NOT prone to warping. It also is not know for twisting as it dries. As for the insect aspect where did I ever mention that it would not be treated with a preseverative??? :sword:
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